This Wednesday October 15 for some, Monday October 20 for others: the deadline for payment of the 2025 property tax is not synonymous with a pleasant meeting for most property owners. This local tax has in fact jumped 37.3% over the last 10 years, on average, in the 200 largest cities in France, according to data published by the National Union of Real Estate Owners (Unpi) this Wednesday, October 15. A surge twice as high as the change in inflation, and more than four times higher than the 8.7% increase in rents. “In short, owners see their charges soar while their income – rental, salary or retirement – is growing much more slowly”denounces Sylvain Grataloup, president of Unpi.
“Even worse,” according to him, with this surge in property taxes, “THE owners have the feeling of paying for the elimination (since 2023) of the housing tax on main residences”which constituted one of the financial resources of local authorities. In fact, the property tax rates applied by the latter to the tax base of owners increased by 11.2% in the space of 10 years. Whether they are occupants or lessors, the owners find themselves in “a untenable situation»scolds Sylvain Grataloup. “But the main thing seems to be elsewhere: guaranteeing the lifestyle of local communities, without the State opening its wallet”he quips.
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Property tax slippage
However, even more than the increase in local rates, it is the 23.5% jump in rental values (potential housing rents) which “explains the slippage of the property tax», Indicates Unpi. Indexed since 2018 to inflation, “the coefficients for increasing rental values have reached records in 2022 (+3.4%), 2023 (+7.1%) and 2024 (+3.9%)”underlines the association. This caused, mathematically, a 15.1% increase in property tax over the three years.
This is why the Unpi and several deputies asked the public authorities, a few years ago, for a capping of the revaluation of rental values. An amendment to this effect to the finance bill for 2023 was even adopted by the finance committee of the National Assembly. But “under pressure from associations representing local authorities, the government opposed the reform being set in stone”regrets Sylvain Grataloup.
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Exempt from property tax in the event of rent control
Failing to have obtained this ceiling, the president of Unpi calls for reform the indexation of rental valuesby aligning them with the residential rent index and no longer with inflation. It also calls for the establishment of a property tax reduction for owners of property located in areas where rents are regulated by a prefectural decree. He also calls for a property tax exemption to be automatically granted to owners carrying out major energy renovation work in their homes, whereas it currently depends on the goodwill of each municipality.
